However, one video truly stands out among all of these in particular: the very first one, featuring CNN producer John Bonifield. This video contained the bombshell revelation that CNN producers were actually pushing the fake Russian narrative for a reason other than their anti-Trump bias: ratings. In the video, Bonifield describes CNN as “a business,” and thus their emphasis on ratings is for the primary motivation of increasing revenue for their business.

All the other videos are only “shocking” in the sense that they feature those behind CNN openly admitting to such problems. They mostly confirm what we already knew about CNN and the mainstream media as a whole, as far as their left-wing and anti-Trump biases are concerned. However, the first video with Bonifield is worth a closer look because of that crucial detail: The fact that it was ratings, not an anti-Trump bias, that motivates CNN to push such obviously fake narratives as the Russian collusion story.

Perhaps this video reveals something even darker and more depressing about the current state of our media today. Maybe, just maybe, we’ve been barking up the wrong tree in our past years of criticism against the media. Perhaps the real issue with the media isn’t its left-wing bias, but rather, the fact that it has turned away from being a trade - an art, even, that focuses on such fundamental ideas as “the truth” - and has instead become a business.

This new incarnation of journalism as we know it, big media, can best be described by one term: The Media-Industrial Complex.

Just as President Eisenhower famously warned about the Military-Industrial Complex in his farewell address, advising Americans to be cautious towards the rise of an industry that profits off war - and thus, may even take measures to provoke war for profit - so too should we be wary of a media that has turned into a big business, focused more on profit than on ethics. Unfortunately, this is already clearly the case with the current mainstream media outlets, from CNN to NBC, as they are all major networks constantly competing for the highest ratings...and the most profit.

Perhaps then, this is why the mainstream media is such a problem now. Perhaps this is why the mainstream media, which previously reported hard news, is now taking a page from the tabloid playbook and pushing such ridiculous headlines as “President Trump gets two scoops of ice cream; everyone else gets one.” Even when their small semblance of a conscience may tell them - as it seems to have told Bonifield - that this is not the right thing to do, money talks louder than morals. Thus, you have Russia. Thus, you have two scoops. Thus, you have ratings, and money.

That is the true tragedy of the modern media: An imbalance that results not necessarily from political leanings, but the potential for profit. That is the true motivation behind the Media-Industrial Complex, and the culprit in the death of real, honest, and ethical journalism.